Sumitomo Bakelite acquires H.I.G. Capital’s Vaupell

H.I.G. Capital is selling Vaupell Holdings to Sumitomo Bakelite. Vaupell is headquartered in Seattle, WA. The business develops and produces thermoplastic interior solutions to the commercial aerospace industry.

PRESS RELEASE

H.I.G. Capital, LLC (“H.I.G.”), a leading global private equity investment firm with more than $15 billion of equity capital under management, announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell its portfolio company Vaupell Holdings, Inc. (“Vaupell” or the “Company”) to Sumitomo Bakelite, Co., Ltd.

“During the H.I.G. ownership, we’ve made two sizeable acquisitions, expanded our product line and capabilities, invested in new technologies, and made strategic investments to support our customers by opening new facilities in Everett, WA and Shenzhen, China.”

Vaupell, headquartered in Seattle, WA, is a global leader in the development and production of thermoplastic interior solutions to the commercial aerospace industry. The Company’s ability to design and produce advanced, tight-tolerance parts and assemblies using highly-engineered resins and composites is unparalleled. Vaupell’s turnkey solutions span the full product lifecycle from design and product prototyping, to tooling and part production, to assembly and kitting. In addition to aerospace, Vaupell provides its engineered solutions for use in defense applications, medical devices and components, test and measurement and other niche commercial applications. The Company acquired SciTech Plastics to diversify into attractive medical and niche commercial applications, and acquired Russell Plastics Technology in 2011 to expand into defense applications and increase its composites capabilities.

“H.I.G. has been a tremendous partner to Vaupell and has been instrumental in helping us establish and execute our growth strategy,” said Joe Jahn, Chief Executive Officer of Vaupell. “During the H.I.G. ownership, we’ve made two sizeable acquisitions, expanded our product line and capabilities, invested in new technologies, and made strategic investments to support our customers by opening new facilities in Everett, WA and Shenzhen, China.”

The transaction is subject to final government approval and is expected to close before June 30, 2014.

About Vaupell

Vaupell was founded in Seattle, Washington in 1947 and supplied the first plastic parts to The Boeing Company. Vaupell designs, engineers, and produces custom, high performance engineered plastic and composite components and assemblies for demanding applications. The Company is a global leader in plastics components and assemblies for aircraft interiors while also serving the broader aerospace, defense, medical, and commercial markets. Vaupell provides engineered solutions to top tier OEM’s, market-leading growth companies, and promising start-ups. Collaboration with our customers in all phases of the product life cycle results in the highest value solutions that reduce time to market, manage risk and control costs. In addition, we manufacture highly engineered components for medical and commercial markets.

About H.I.G. Capital

H.I.G. is a leading global private equity investment firm with more than $15 billion of equity capital under management. Based in Miami, and with offices in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, New York and San Francisco in the U.S., as well as international affiliate offices in London, Hamburg, Madrid, Milan, Paris and Rio de Janeiro, H.I.G. specializes in providing capital to small and medium-sized companies with attractive growth potential. H.I.G. invests in management-led buyouts and recapitalizations of profitable and well managed manufacturing or service businesses. Since its founding in 1993, H.I.G. has invested in and managed more than 200 companies worldwide. The firm’s current portfolio includes more than 80 companies with combined sales in excess of $30 billion.

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